Category Archives: Spiritual Discipline

God’s House Plans

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Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it… Psalms 127:1

Gods House PlansGod is the Master Builder and in His kingdom He is building many houses. When He is building a house He draws up the plans, and then He shares the plans with you through a vision or dream. This is how His house plans are delivered to the earth.  If you have a dream that is much larger than anything you could do alone, then there is a good chance that God has revealed one of His house plans to you.  He showed Noah a huge boat and Solomon a massive tabernacle.  Each of these houses was unique and perfectly laid out by God to minister to His people, but He did not show the plans to everyone.   He showed these plans to Noah and Solomon, because they were to ones He chose to build the house.  He could trust them with the plans, because He knew they trusted in Him.

God must be able to trust you to hold the vision and wait on Him for each step. Hold on to the vision, and don’t let time discourage you. The very fact that He gave you the vision indicates that He intends for His house to be built. If the Lord is building the house wait on Him and trust in Him and in time the construction will begin. Always keep in your mind focused on whose house it is.  You are building His house and not your own.

A vision from God is like a fire, and it burns within you and can’t be put out. If there is a fire within you that can not be quenched it is the fire of God. At just the right time He will poke at the embers and the vision will blaze up. Just hold on to the vision, this is the embers, and at just the right time the fire of God will been seen and He will build His house.

A Continuous Flow

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… If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in me out of his inner most being shall flow [continuously] springs and rivers of living water. John 7:37-38

I began to ponder this morning about the continuous flow of Living Water.  As I read John 7:37-38 I thought; living water is a continuous flow of love and forgiveness.  That is it; that is what I experience daily as I spend time with the Lord.

His love and forgiveness is a “continuous flow” that never stops.  But, is that what others experience when they spend time with me?  I heard the Lord as He spoke in that quiet gentile voice to my heart,  “Can you carry my love and forgiveness to others?  Will you let it flow continuously from you as a river so that people are refreshed by My presence within you.”  My response was: “Yes, Lord!”

I set back and began to fondly think of those people I love; the ones I wanted to share this continuous flow of love and forgiveness.  But, then I thought about people who I no longer have fellowship with.  I began to wonder did the continuous flow apply to these relationships as well.  I heard the Lord gentle say, “Aren’t you glad that even when you were not fellowshipping with Me that My flow of love and forgiveness was still continuous towards you?  Then He said, “What you have freely received freely give them as well.”  I realized very quickly that I needed more of the love of the Lord, because at this point I only have a small creek that runs as far as my close friends and family.

Lord, I want a river, a big river of Living Water; a continuous flow of love and forgiveness that will flow everywhere You send me.

Forgiveness: Clean Out Your Filing Cabinet

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“Forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32

No matter who you are or how long you have been a Christian, you will still have times when you get hurt and offended.  As a Christian, the goal is to learn how to deal with hurts properly.

Learning to respond instead of reacting is the key.  If you have been hurt in the same way before, then it will be easier to take on the offense and react.  The reaction will be based on a combination of the present hurt and the past hurts as well.  If you have learned to forgive when hurtful things happen instead of being offended, you will be able to respond correctly.  Forgiveness therefore, must become a way of life in order to be able to respond in a Christ-like manner no matter what the situation is.

The problem is that your soul has a filing cabinet where past hurts and offenses are stored that have not been dealt with properly. This is why when someone does something that hurts you; you will suddenly remember how many times they have done the same thing before.

The only way to be free from past hurts is to forgive. Ask the Lord to help you forgive. Forgiveness is releasing the person who hurt you, and releasing your right to hold the offense against them any longer. Forgiveness is not saying that what they did was not wrong; forgiveness is releasing them to God. You will not be free from the pain caused by the offense until you release the offender. Once you forgive them, your filing cabinet will be cleaned out and you can begin to deal with hurts on a daily basis instead of letting things pile up.

Forgiveness is releasing our right to demand payment for sins against us by surrendering to God and letting Him be the judge and jury.

Do You Want to Change?

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“I acknowledge my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid…and thou forgave the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:5).

Recently, we had ants in our kitchen. We were covered in ants even after we had our house exterminated three times.  What we failed to do was find the main source they were coming from.  Once we discovered it, our ant problem was solved.  It’s the same with sin.  Once we discover the hidden iniquity, the main source, then our sin problem can be solved.

If you are serious about getting rid of the annoying things in your life, you must find the source.  In Nehemiah 9:2-3, Nehemiah told the people of his time that there was a direct correlation between their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

“Then the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers” (Nehemiah 9:2).

Everyone knows to confess their sins, but that is not all that needs to be done. Sin is a representation of something much deeper; it represents an iniquity. We must dig deep to discover iniquities, which are the origin of sins.  Satan wants the main source, the iniquity, to remain hidden.  Iniquity is Satan’s access point to you and your entire family line.

When a sin is brought to your attention, confess the sin and the iniquity where it originated.

Strategic Rapid Fire

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“Perfect love casts out all fear” 1 John 4:18
The greatest weapon we have against the enemy is love.  He sets up camp in people who are fearful of rejection and convinces them that they are not loved. 1 John 4:18 says perfect love will cast out all fear.  From this verse we can gain wisdom of how God intends for the enemy to be defeated.  It is through love that fear is cast out and it is through love that his access points are closed.
So how do you know when the enemy has someone in your family convinced that they are not loved?  It will be very obvious by their words and actions.  You will know it because they will criticize and even crush you with their words, and will do things that seem to be deliberate rejection.  Stand firm; you must remind yourself it is not the person, but the enemy working through them. Pull out the strongest ammo, get ready, aim and rapid fire love towards them.
What I mean by rapid fire is to show them love in various ways all within a few hours of each other.  Like a phone call in the early morning, an encouraging text at lunch, then, invite them for dinner in the evening accompanied by a thoughtful gift.  At dinner find ways to affirm their gifts and abilities and encourage them to use their gifts in creative ways.  After several days of very strategic rapid fire the enemy will be overcome and the family member you thought you had lost will be won.